The Olive Ridley Riddle

For some strange reason i have lost all that i wrote on this a while back . i had thought i'd come back and finish it off and it's sadly not been saved. But that's a different riddle. I don't think i'll be able to do justice to this post by rewriting but i do have to write about it as it's been haunting me for sometime.

The riddle is about the olive ridleys? Who are they and why conserve them? Why not any other animal?Specially when you've seen pictures of the thousands of baby turtles swarming the beaches of the Odisha Coast. They can't be in that grave a danger. At least not like the tigers. Right? 

Wrong. Let's look at this small statistic. 

According to Carr (1972), more than 1 million olive ridleys were commercially harvested off the coasts of Mexico in 1968 alone. Cliffton et al. (1982) had estimated the population of Pacific Mexico to be at least 10 million prior to the era of mass exploitation . More recently, Spotilia (2004) estimated that the global population of annual nesting females has been reduced to approximately 2 million, and Abreu-Gabrois and Plotkin (2008) estimated that number to have been further reduced to 852 550. This indicated a dramatic decrease of 28-32% in the global population within only one generation (i.e. 20 years) .(http://www.environment.gov.au/sprat)

And another one:

Olive ridleys traditionally have specific nesting grounds. Pacific olive ridley’s nest around Costa Rica, Mexico, Nicaragua, and the Northern Indian Ocean; the breeding colony in Mexico was listed as endangered in the U.S. on July 28, 1978. Though not a rule but the turtles have normally refrained from nesting in new grounds and travel thousands of kilometers in their lifetime to the specific grounds to breed.

The missing piece: In India, they nest in Gahiramatha, near Paradeep coast is Odisha. It's been a very widely filmed and media covered phenomena. Every year, you'd not  likely have missed a few conservationists  and environmentalists talking about them. And you would have always thought, at least some one's doing something. Well, not quite. 

The Odisha Government has sanctioned a port every 32 kilometers in its 480 km coastline. Added to Paradeep port, which remains largely underutilised and two more ports almost  ready to start at Dhamra and Gopalpur, the Government has sanctioned 12 more. This not only has an adverse effect on the local ecology but you firstly start questioning the reason for this. This defies all logic . What does a state do with 15 mini and mega ports?Why do we need to open up our ports and our already fragile coastal ecosystems to private companies? Who will it profit? Not the nation surely? For the record, Coastal ports are exempted from  a lot of clearances that would've been otherwise required under SEZ/ CRZ  and its later amendments in the name of "national interest". I'm sure we all know who the "interest" lies with.

Why in our country we have lost the value of our ecosystems and are hell bent on destroying the equilibrium. It's also not about the Olive Ridleys. Yes, you may not see them anymore after 40 more years except in your books and discovery channel in extinct species. The graver question is that of the policies and what dictates them. Today, the opposition in odisha is screaming on why so many companies are being given permission. But their questions are specifically related to the rampant corruption and not getting their share of meat. Or so it seems.

The Olive Ridleys were already in grave danger and ecologists were having a hard time fighting the fishing nets, the trawlers  and illegal poachers which were causing mass destruction of the turtles and their nesting sites. , they now have to fight with hundreds of big ships that will operate from those ports, not to count the massive construction that would be carried out on the coasts and many other ancillary businesses that are bound to mushroom in and around the coastline. If millions of the ridleys can dwindle down to thousands in just one life cycle, imagine what grave danger we are putting them in. It is also about understanding that we are encroaching dangerous waters literally. Japan earthquake, The Tsunamis and the Katrinas, The devastationg storms and fires, the submerging coastlines all over the world are saying something to all of us. 

How prepared are we to handle the coastal livelihoods, the marine and aquatic life forms, the endangered species and more importantly the shaking equilibrium? The Olive Ridleys are giving us the warning bell. They have rung long enough. Time we paid heed.

One really had hopes from Mr Jayaram Ramesh but seeing the course Vedanta Mining Leases and their entire operation is taking putting an entire habitat of Dongriya Kondhs and the beautiful biodiversity of  the Niyamgiri hills in jeopardy, you can't help but be afraid. So many pages written , so much of coverage on why they cannot start operations in the Niyamgiri hills, but when government plays the advocate of the mining giants, there isn't much hope left.

Life today hold no value, especially if it's a tribal life who had lived his life as a owner of lands but is now living on the margins. Let alone the Olive Ridleys and the snakes and ants, the lives of people have become pawns to be sold off for money and power. You wonder at the functionality of those laws and rules that protect the environment, the Primitive Tribes and the so called revolutionary Act such as the Forest Right Act. .

You wonder at the direction we are going, because you never know, tomorrow, it might be your life at stake for some power hungry corporate,  just on a different pretext.

(Photo-Ashok Panda: Mass hatching of Olive Ridley turtle eggs at Rushikulya River a major nesting site in Orissa. : Coutesy: www.orissadiary.com) 

(Found an interesting read:  http://infochangeindia.org/201104158758/Environment/Features/Vedanta-and-Posco-A-tale-of-two-projects.html)

Irritation

Now a days i get irritated very soon and as is wont, have been wondering what it means..

As usual, i start by writing what irritates me and then i'll come back to read it in a few days time to understand what it means..pick up Freud, or ask one of my friends who's an expert on these..

Lies. The first irritant. I can't stand it when people lie to me. This normally brings up the question, do i not lie? Yes , i do. I'm no Gandhi ji but i've had my experiment with lies. I have lied and haven't been able to carry it. It has weighed on me like a thousand stones and somehow, discreetly or indiscreetly , i've ended up confessing. And somehow, lies put me off like nothing else. I feel let down, humiliated and mistrusted.After that point i feel like getting back to that person with a lie overload, but i never can.

Holier-than-thou attitude: Yeah. You are holy. Much holier than me. Thank you. I don't follow your religion. Thank You again.

Manipulation: Someone had once told me human beings by nature are manipulative. There's passive manipulative, aggressive manipulative, coercive manipulative, hurt party manipulative, the list goes on. Of all manipulations,  the blatant, in your face, showing you my power and gloating over it manipulation takes the cake. The thing is you can't show them your middle finger even when that's all you want to do.

Taking advantage of the weak: Self explanatory. High irritant. 

Blissfully ignorant: there is ignorant and there is ignorant. When people wear their ignorance on their sleeves like a medal and take absolutely no initiative towards changing that status, well, it does get on your nerves. They can argue and argue for hours, sighting their ignorance every other minute but the expression of tone and face belying every sentence. They take pride in their ignorance . I'd at least go back, research, study, understand and then come back and argue. Yes, even if my point was right.

I don't know the exact english term for those people. in odia, we call them "galua". They hit back at you with the strangest logic. If you tell them, you don't like something, they come back say, on such and such date and situation "you" did the same. Or maybe, "what the heck if i did it, only people make mistakes, or i'm no god", and turn around to repeat the mistake.Yeah you know those people. Somehow i always want to stay away from those kinds but sadly they always catch up. Always do.

Being woken up after i sleep.Eating alone.: Both not in this context, but highly irritating nonetheless.

Bad body odour, stinking mouths and uncleanliness: For obvious reasons. The worst kind is when people do it and feel it is bohemian and fashionable to be dirty. I've heard this from a few, that tigers don't brush their teeth and lions don't have a bath everyday. But neither do pigs and and the horrible smelling he-goats,( no offense to the animals, that's their way of life, just not mine. love them , so as not to hurt them, but can't surely stay with them.) but who wants to prove a point. I'm disgusted and that's it.

People who do not stand by their words: The worst kind. Never believe them, but if it's a person who's currently an indispensable part of your life, well, you've had it. They are manipulative, self destructive and take advantage of you because they know your weaknesses.And if it's your work space, woohoo, BINGO!

Being a part of an injustice. All those things i stood against. All those things i put up a fight for. And now, i become a silent spectator. A mute audience. With bile burning my insides, turning my food upside down. Sadistic. Masochistic.

I am angry is obvious. But what is the solution. I know i need "something". I know it's the dissatisfaction. But then i question myself. Why? I wasn't so dissatisfied in not so distant past. And i question, if this is the life i want.

Interpretation: There is a lot of clutter inside that needs cleaning up. I need control over people, things and situation which most times shall not be so. I am currently in company of people who are breaking my beliefs and preferences and it's shaking my established rules, which is resulting in the chaos.

Yes, i do understand all this. But i still question. Is this the life i bargained for?

Dams Broken...

You have fallen,
so many times

most times unseen
in the darkness of the night,
behind closed doors
in anger, in frustration, in hurt and pain.

And then you've fallen, uninhibited
in pride, in victory, in achievement

you've fallen in the rain
in the shower, down the drain

you've fallen from a window of a bus
and of a passing train

you've fallen on the feet of your oppressor
on a daughter's wedding day

you've fallen in the long lonely nights
into the pillows in silent convulsions
you've fallen when all doors have been shut on you
on your invisible god's lap

you've fallen in your mother's embrace,
in your father's arms.
you've fallen at the birth of your baby
at the deathbed of someone close

sometimes you've checked yourself
within the dams of the eyes
and sometimes you've flooded
breaking all barriers

flooding your dreams
your relationships
your hopes

sometimes you've been brushed away
in a charade of smiles
you've been wiped away
at someone's approach.

but how you've fallen
quenching a thirst
and starting another one.

You have fallen
sometimes without reason
and sometimes
the reason has not been enough.

The witch...

I call her the witch, the sorceress,who entices you, incites you, allures you and then completely engulfs you.And you in the whole while have not realised that you've been bewitched.Yes, you've hated her when you came here if you came from outside..yes, you've called her names, you've been suffocated but you've slowly but steadily become a part of her..the witch..mumbai..the witch..

People normally lead two lives. One their personal, the other their life at work or a school or college if you still haven't started work. But if you live in mumbai, you lead a third life. The mysterious affair with mumbai. A life that's only your own, with its own secrets, fantasies, dreams, complications and those amazing moments like every affair..pre-marital or extra-marital...it's as guilty, as pleasurable, as angry, as the secret rendezvous with your beloved.

This city has been my city for a year almost now and i still haven't put up a blog on her. (even when people have been wondering out loud, that i've lost it..). The truth is, it's because it's mumbai. It's because paeans, odes, essays can be written about the city and still not be done with it. Because there are places you visit  in your life and when you write about it,  it barely makes it to a page...but mumbai? I could write an epic on just on one of it's aspects..thicker than an Ulysses..i could just create another blog that would have daily updates about the dichotomy of mumbai, or i could write an hourly journal on the people i meet and places i go..it's mumbai.

What could i write about ?

The local trains? That keep you on your toes literally. Where your time runs parallel to the mumbai locals. The daily fights and shouts in the compartments, the running over your feet, mausi whose legs are swollen with pus oozing out and still carrying a load a few times her body weight and girth..the designer wear clad fashionistas who cringe when someone passes them by, the kohl eyed eager college kids, the burkha clad women who tear off their naqaab in the safety of the women's compartment, the men who are courteous if you've accidentally gone into a the men's compartment(not really theirs technically but you know what i mean)   The locals where relationships are forged for lifetimes, having travelled are the same time, in the same compartments for years.

Mumbai, a country of it's own..it's neither india..it's neither maharashtra and nor can any community from any place in the world claim it has not a counterpart in mumbai. Mumbai is its own world.

Mumbai where nothing is still, nothing is static. It's always in motion. Mumbai is fluid. It runs, in trains, on roads, in cars, in buses, in rains and in your veins. 

Nothing divides in mumbai and then you lose count of the divisions.Whose mumbai? The Thackrey's mumbai, the migrant mumbai, the ex-pat mumbai. The night life mumbai, the morning of mumbai. When one life in mumbai goes to sleep, the other gets into action, scrambling to plays, to theatres, to cinemas, to pubs, to discs. And as they loiter back home inebriated in the wee hours, the other half rises, getting ready for another day in mumbai. Mumbai.

In mumbai every body who is somebody somewhere is a nobody and every nobody is the mumbaikar, it's soul. Where a bhaiya drives mumbai to its destination and a maharashtrian taxi driver may just dump you if you called him a bhaiya. The bais with their super fast time management skills could give many corporate honchos and our politicians a lesson or two. Mumbai where every community has a clan, where every clan moves with a pride and sense of identity.

The children who run away from home anywhere in india reach one destination. Mumbai. They sell books, combs, knick knacks and then they sell themselves. Looking up at models and role models in juhu, in taj, at nariman..they sport their style, the hairstyle, selling themselves bit by bit but the dream in their eyes alive. As alive as the fluttering clothes at dhobi ghat.

Mumbai , where houses are more precious than your life. If you have one, you're god. If you haven't, you dream of becoming one. Mumbai lives facing the sea and the creek..The west sea faces the rich and the famous, the west, the slum dwellers of colaba, BPT and Mankhurd, Mumbai. One side pays a million to get a sea view, the other half choses to stay away from the sea, the stink, the junk floating, the debris, the defecation grounds. Mumbai.

Mumbai where you spot a someone somewhere every other day, a filmstar, an activist and then they vanish into the cloak of anonymity. Where the children grow up in the schools of BMC where you fight for a  four hour slot, fighting for a place even to sit  or in a school like American School of Mumbai where you've an indoor airconditioned stadium , a cafeteria that sells coke at double it's costs.

Mumbai where a woman can chose to live alone. Mumbai, where she can break all rules. Live the dream of other women . Where a woman can travel alone any time of the day . Or Night. Mumbai, where a woman is safe and so walks with the confidence and poise of a tigress.

Mumbai where every story on celluloid in someone's reality.Where every reality is so unreal.  Mumbai where every dream is within your reach. In a mall,  just steps away.

Mumbai, where everyone is filled with so much of passion and mission. Mumbai where every eye has a dream, where every dream is shared. And in mumbai, i too dream, of being back, in my native land.

Mumbai where you suddenly look at the sky from the train at night and see a twinkle in the sky, you wait for it to move because you think it's an airplane hovering but laugh  at yourself  when you realise it's a star. You laugh because you'd given up hope of seeing a star in its polluted sky and you laugh at yourself for giving up hope in mumbai. In mumbai, it's life . And life is hope.